I recently had this character modeled for me but it was not really modeled very well for printing purposes. The model was supposed to be hollow throughout, which it is not. There was to be a hole at the bottom of the base pedestal for the removal of excess powder, which there is, but the hole does not go through the whole character, only the base. Also, the character was modeled in various separated elements and then kind of thrown together instead of merging them and making the least amount of shells. Now a lot of the geometry is penetrating throughout the model. I tried putting an stl of the model through Netfabb to see if it could repair the problems but it was not able to fix them. Plus the geometry that was penetrating before, starting showing really bad seams when Netfabb merged them..
Can someone please let me know if they would be able to repair this model to be fully printable and how much it would cost? I pretty much spent my whole budget getting this made so I can't offer too much. I'd really appreciate any help I can get.

hmm... I've seen it. I separated the shells then made some boolean operations to fix it. it's some 25 different meshes and I've tried just with the character and the base. it's an harsh work but it functions. you could even do it by your own. don't panic!

I have been trying to get the author to fix it but he hasn't responded to any of my messages to him about these issues with the model. The last thing he told me was that he was going on another business trip. So I am kind of stuck. I don't have a lot of 3d modeling experience. I am an animator and graphic artist but never really got into modeling.

David, hopefully the model was a combination of several manifold separate objects. SW will use a boolean union on all the objects to create 1 manifold shell, if the parts are not to little. You could always upload the stl to http://cloud.netfabb.com/. It will perform boolean union on the parts, and fix certain errors. A model can be confusing if the principles are not understood. If the Cloud service cannot fix it, you have been screwed over by the modeller
If so, post the name least for the shame value.

Keith
.

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

I tried to upload the model to Shapeways and it said it would cost somewhere around $2,000 - 3,000. I'm assuming that's because the model was not fully hollowed out and the size of the model was way too large instead of 6 inches tall. I've tried using Netfabb with this model but Shapways gave me an error when I uploaded it. Plus, a lot of the fine details were lost during the boolean process and the seams looked really bad.

Remember when I mentioned that SW will perform the boolean op if it was not too little. The case was proven. The nettfab cloud service will perform all the booleans needed no matter the size.
I am uploading the file now to see if there are normals not pointing the correct direction. For example if you placed a smaller sphere inside a larger sphere and joined them, and all normals are facing away from the center, SW will not recognize the model as having a hollowed out interior. Now if you flip the interior spheres face normals, SW will recognize the model is hollow. Will be back after experimenting on your model.

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

Atom, I looked at it. A few verts needed fixing. Actually the entire mesh was well modeled,the hollowed out areas were fine, except the designer did not create a way for all the material from all the hollowed out areas to escape, which you noted, except the base. Looks like they forgot to finish. All that it needs is the base remodelled, and a way for the powder to escape from the hollow areas. I am sure recreating the base should be no problem for him. The new escape tunnel might be painful for the model, lol.

Keith

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.